The Mr X Factor 27 (aka The Mr & Mrs X Factor No.1!!): Home to New Zealand to get married!!!

Wellington & stag do – to Tauranga & wedding prep – Saturday 19 March: the big day!! – Wedding service – Photo session – Reception - to Thailand for honeymoon – floods and evacuation by aircraft carrier (as you do!) – Bangkok and back to London

Hi all! It is Mr & Mrs Hodgkinson here, from London – and here is the latest X-factor blog. We hope you enjoy it!!... and for any new readers, be warned - I do go on a bit with my story-telling!!

Where does one start!!? Firstly by saying Wendy & I had an amazing time back home in New Zealand, culminating with us getting married on Saturday 19 March, in Tauranga. We are thankful to God for such a blessed time – pretty much everything went smoothly and was really enjoyable and exciting throughout. Thanks also to our families and friends for all your support along the way. This blog focuses on the month we had off to come home to get married.

We landed in NZ just under two weeks before the wedding. I was home in Wellington for just over a week - seeing my family, friends, chucking out a whole lot of stuff after almost six years away from home, finalising our wedding suits and picking up a wedding licence! A big thanks to my good friend Matthew Page, who came out from the UK for the wedding - it was a pleasure to show him round Wellington and the North Island.
Meanwhile Wendy was in Tauranga hanging out with her family and friends. She was a bit worried about what might happen to me on my stag do, which naturally had a sporting element to it, with black and yellow Wellington colours being the recommended dress code – and me being given a distinctive yellow helmet to wear (compulsory!).

We began with nine holes of golf at Makara golf course - two teams of 12, with each team member having alternate shots. With varying abilities with a golf club it made for quite a fun and competitive round – with plenty of banter along the way!!

Next we headed for the go-kart track! Here it was every man for himself in a 50-lap race. I was on fire on the track, storming from 7th place on the grid to win, recording the fastest lap, and having a blinding first lap especially (up to third!). Perhaps the lads were being nice to me, given what would happen to me soon afterwards!?
After our ‘Bathurst-fix’ we headed harbour-side - to the Mac’s Brewery bar beside Te Papa, for a beer with the lads. This quickly turned into a court session, where I was accused of ‘betraying the institution of bachelorhood’. Witnesses were quickly forthcoming with evidence to support this accusation.
Given my clear intention of marrying Wendy, I could not refute the accusation and was found guilty. The punishment was a visit into Wellington harbour – by force if necessary! So I did a runner, but ran out of steam and was caught. With interested and/or bemused onlookers gathering, the good reverend and lawyer Dr. Tim McKenzie pronounced my sentence, before (in ‘enthusiasm for marriage’) I ran down the plank and did a water-bomb splash to be proud of!
After that we headed to Matt Berg’s place for some pizza & beers, watched the Hurricanes beat the Chiefs, spinning some yarns from various events from my past (thanks in particular to Eric Raven for the trip back to the nineties!!) and pretty much just hanging out for the evening. My Dad was also able to make it along, which was cool. A big thanks to James, Matt and John for organising a great day.
Soon enough it was the week of the wedding and time to head north to Tauranga. On the Tuesday I hired a car with Matt and we drove up the North Island – a drive I always enjoy doing.
We joined Wendy and her family – and helped finalise wedding arrangements. The rest of my family came up on the Thursday and our respective parents met each other - for the first time!! The day before the wedding consisted of setting up our reception venue and a wedding service dress rehearsal.

And finally, after several months planning and waiting, a much anticipated Saturday 19 March actually arrived! It was a stunning day weather-wise: beautifully sunny and warm. Apparently it takes brides hours of getting ready on their wedding day; us lads had it pretty easy. My groomsmen rendezvoused with me mid-morning, and we quickly headed off to play some mini-golf!
After that we headed back to ‘Camp Hodgkinson’, where we had lunch with the family before getting showered, shaved, suited and booted to head for the church. My groomsman John Dennison had arranged all the suit stuff and was in his element here - getting us perfectly sorted suit/trousers/shirt/tie... everything-wise. It was brilliant stuff – thanks J.S.D!
Once we got to the church (Bethlehem College Chapel – looking lovely) there was some last minute sorting to do before mixing with friends and family from my side of the invites, and ‘soon-to-be’ family and friends from Wendy’s side. Soon enough it was 3pm and action stations!

The service went very smoothly, which was great - Wendy looked totally radiant and beautiful as she was walked into the chapel and down the aisle by her father. There was a lovely sense of joy, anticipation and excitement. Wonderful to have so many family and friends gathered to witness and support us in getting married – and extra brilliant that my sister Nicola was able to make it back from the UK for it – thanks Nics!
The service was conducted wonderfully by local pastor Brian Cochran, and my good friend and Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship (TSCF) mentor Andrew Saunders gave an amazing message based on Philippians 2 - Imitating Christ’s humility - realistic, challenging and encouraging. The vows went fine, rings were exchanged, husband and wife kissed, and wow, we were married!!
After the service we mingled excitedly outside with all our guests – actually they mingled and we got plenty of photos with family and friends.

Then we headed off for the bridal party photos – this was a lovely time, driving round the Tauranga/Mount area in a lovely 1960s EH Holden (it had to be a Holden!!).

FYI, there are plenty more photos at the following link - an amazing memory of the day. Thanks heaps to Justine our photographer, who even let me get a cricket shot in - of me bowling a maiden over!!! The photo link is at: http://sassiphotography.zenfolio.com/p687363128
Soon enough we arrived back for our wedding reception.

My good friends Mark Edgecombe & Tim McKenzie are two Wellington friends with the gift-of-the-gab, and did a great job as our M/Cs - the reception was hiliarious throughout!


The main theme they ran with was a concern that I could struggle to share my precious Scout blanket with Wendy in our new life together (I began sewing Cub, Scouts, sports and travel patches on my blanket way back in 1985 - it took until 2007 to complete one side! It is quite the tapestry of my life – I need a Wendy patch now!!):
Tim and Mark then invited guests to design a (paper) patch with a recommended place that Wendy and I should look to visit in the future. The next day when we got hold of the blanket there was quite a collection of patches and a massive variety of places to visit – from Istanbul to Waiheke Island to the Tawa Intermediate dell!!

The numerous speeches were a highlight too - some classic stories and anecdotes of each of us and our relationship were shared by all who spoke. My father’s poem - of our unfolding courtship from the point of view of watching & hopeful parents - was amazing and quite a surprise. Here it is below - thanks to Dad, as well as to everyone who spoke:

‘‘David’s off to foreign shores, To see the world, its joys, its flaws.
On his back, a weighty pack, A couple of years? He’ll soon be back

Six years later he’s still there, But he has found someone to share
His life – we are so delighted, To see this match so well ignited

But for us it wasn’t easy, no, Not that Dave was ever slow
We’d hoped he’d find someone quite friendly, But, goodness me - another Wendy!

For over a year their friendship grew, And oft we wondered ‘Anything new?’
Is this the one? Is this it?, But all we could do was wait a bit

Watching every London antic, Mum and sister going frantic
I said you should not be so worried, Important things cannot be hurried

I’m sure our Dave knows what he’s doing, All chivalry and courtly wooing
The boom you’re making is quite sonic, I think you need a gin and tonic

But little did the family know, David wasn’t all that slow
We’d already been engagement-shopping, Researching rings, jeweller-hopping

But here we want to know what cooks, Everyone here’s on tenterhooks
Has he asked? No! What a bummer! And here’s us trying to plan our summer

I wish that we would hear from them, Do you realise its 2 a.m.
What are you doing lying awake? Let’s get some sleep for heaven’s sake

Contact with him of every type, By text, by email, by means of Skype
We tried to elicit news of plans, Imagining a wedding. Posting banns

But then one day the phone DID ring, A proposal, a ‘yes’, an engagement ring
But did you think this the end of it? Oh no, no, no, no, not a bit

I’ve got to buy another dress, I’ve put on weight, my hair’s a mess
A pair of shoes, maybe a jacket, This thing is going to cost a packet

But now a wedding and here we are, Family and friends from near and far
Mum and sister both calmed down, Retail therapy, they’ve been to town

So Dave and Wendy we wish you luck, And if, by chance, you do get stuck
You can turn to us for help, advice, And even listen – that would be nice

We’ll be behind you all the way, And if you’re not careful we’ll come and stay
So to you both we say ‘God bless’, Good luck, good health, much happiness

For us it hasn’t been a breeze, But there’s a new entry on our family trees
The news is out, it will not keep, And finally I might get some sleep’’

By John Hodgkinson, March 2011

After the speeches people headed for the dance floor to groove the rest of the night away - our first dance was to Snow Patrol’s ‘Just Say Yes’, and soon enough everyone else joined us on the dance floor, grooving to swing, rock’n’roll music, as well as stuff from the 1980s onwards . It was a great time, however after midnight Mr & Mrs D. Hodgkinson had to leave, so we did!

The next day we had a relaxing brunch at Nautilus restaurant, where we were able to re-live the previous day and chat with friends about the wedding day celebrations, as well as other things – another chance to catch up with people. It was all to biref, but this is normal, I guess. After a couple of hours people started heading their separate ways and it was time to say goodbye.

We had a couple of days in Tauranga, sorting the wedding aftermath out, before flying out of Auckland airport to Thailand on the Tuesday afternoon, seen off by both our parents at the airport, grateful for a wonderful trip home to get hitched, sad to be leaving family and New Zealand again, but also excited that our life together as a married couple was now underway.

After a night in Bangkok we headed to Koh Samui island via plane, then Koh Tao island by ferry. The honeymoon plan was to spend 5 nights there and 4 nights back on Koh Samui, before flying to Bangkok for our flight back to London. We had two lovely resorts booked.

Unfortunately it did not quite go to plan! This was because it rained constantly for much of the time we were on Koh Tao. The only sunny part was the afternoon we arrived. Every Thai we met was most apologetic for the weather! Our hotel resort however, was quite lovely: http://www.kohtao.co.uk/hotel_ko_tao_resort_paradise_zone/

On the third day the rain stopped for an afternoon, and we were able to get out for a walk around the coast for three hours – full of lovely little bays, secluded resort huts and tropical vegetation.

We walked from Chalok Bay to Mae Haad Bay, where we browsed the shops - finding a patch for my Scout blanket among other things! Then we headed on to Sairee Beach where we had an evening meal at a waterfront restaurant, before heading back to our resort in a taxi.
After this welcome respite, the rain kept on and we sensed and heard things were getting bad. The catamaran ferry to Koh Samui (our only route off Koh Tao island) had been cancelled for several days, and Chaweng Beach on Koh Samui was reportedly flooded - including the hotel we were meant to head for the second half of our honeymoon. Koh Samui airport was also under water. How were we going to get back to Bangkok in time to catch our flight to London!!?

As we could not get off the island, we stayed put for an extra two nights at our Koh Tao resort. We were relatively safe though – on the southern Thai Peninsula slips from the rain were occurring, villages were getting destroyed by mudslides. It was unprecedented weather and sadly between 30-50 people died on the Thai Peninsula, possibly more. Sadly, there has been such chaos in the world of late, so it was sobering to be in the middle of something like this, and a reality check from our wedded bliss. Our hearts go out to the Thai people who lost loved-ones in all this :(

For our final few days we hung out with an Australian couple we met at our resort - Jeremy and Kate. They had heard rumours that the Thai navy were going to send a ship to evacuate tourists off Koh Tao island. And so it proved. Very conveniently, the evacuation point was the bay below our resort.
We had been told to assemble on the waterfront at 8am, and so we packed our gear, and headed down. When we got there we found a massive queue of people and some semblance of an evacuation plan. We could also see moored out at sea what looked like a pretty big aircraft carrier - I didn't even know Thailand has a navy!!
Fortunately we were near the front of a queue of about 1000 people. There was plenty of waiting around during which we played cards and chatted with Jeremy and Kate, as well as crafting some very suave rain-ponchos out of rubbish bags!
The whole day felt like a combination of Dunkirk, Titanic and a Vietnam War helicopter scene all rolled into one - with evacuation boats mooring up, helicopters flying overhead to pick up women and children, elderly and the like - and all this in the rain and wind. Finally at 2pm, our time came to leave. There were three boats to transfer between before we would get onto the ship itself – a Thai ‘long-boat’ that could hold about 15 people + their luggage took us from the pier about 500m out into the bay, where we transferred to a much larger two-deck diving boat – very necessary as the swell would have swamped the longboats.
Then the dive boat headed out about another 2km to the aircraft carrier, which was quite massive when we got up close.
The not-so-small problem was that the aircraft carrier clearly wasn’t designed to do evacuations - there was no easy way to get on board. Instead there was 40 feet of rope netting hanging off the stern in the lee of the wind, and people were climbing up it. That would soon be us!!
The final transfer was onto an inflatable navy boat and then we climbed up the rope onto the deck of the aircraft carrier, which hardly felt like it was being moved by the waves. We got onto the HTMS Chakri Naruebet CVH-911 at 4pm and buzzing from the adrenalin of the whole adventure. After a very welcome meal courtesy of the Thai Navy we found a piece of cardboard to act as our mattress for the night – no bridal suite here!! - before resting and waiting to leave, as more evacuees came on board.
We finally left at about 9:30pm, with over 800 evacuees on board. The ship cruised northwards overnight and when we docked at the Pattaya naval base the next morning the Thai authorities had arranged buses to take us to Bangkok -about 1.5 hours away.
The best thing was that as we disembarked at the base Wendy spotted Thai navy baseball caps for sale - so I bought one. The patch on that is definitely going on my Scout blanket some day – with quite the story behind it!!
After all this we actually arrived in Bangkok one day earlier than planned. It was lovely to check into a hotel! We had a swim (even managed to sunbathe – how ironic!!). Then we did some shopping and grabbed a meal in the MBK Mall.

The next day we caught our connecting flight safely back to London on 1 April. A very special trip was over.
We are have been back in London two months now and have settled back into work, recently moved into our first flat together as husband and wife - all very settling and exciting. We look forward to a special summer over here.

But more about that in a future blog! All for now – much love from Mr & Mrs D. Hodgkinson!!